Gillman Barracks

Hello friends :-)

So on the last day of freedom we have before JC officially starts (5 Feb), Shermaine, Sarah and myself headed to the Gillman Barracks. It's sort of an art village housing a whole ton of art galleries in their various blocks and the nearest MRT station is Labrador Park. It's not the most convenient location to access in my opinion but it's really worth it - thank you Shermaine for bringing us to this fabulous place. It's such an interesting concept and plus entry to the galleries are completely free of charge - what's there not to love, honestly? It's also a former military camp built in 1936, for the history buffs out there! That also translates to pretty architecture. 

I think this place was part of the Singapore Art Week 2014 which has already ended but we didn't manage to check it out during the bustling period. The galleries are still ongoing though, and there's literally no one there most of the time - almost like a ghost town, which is pretty depressing because it's lovely. We only saw around two other couples at the entire location the whole time we were there. Makes for a really amazing day out, but perhaps pack some light snacks because the restaurants situated within the place are either over priced or not suitable for our age group. 

Anyway, this post will be mainly filled with photographs instead of words, just like my Art Stage post because I am in no position to comment on art pieces. And for artsy things, pictures probably speak more for themselves than words. 

Our tour guide for the day - Shermaine! :-) She followed the Singapore Art Week brochure, which is also available to take at several of the galleries at Gillman Barracks. 

Group photo in height gradient :-) 

The first block we visited - funny how we didn't start from 01, something I am still failing to understand. 

Pretty graffiti outside the Michael Janssen Gallery - though it's definitely not /just/ graffiti! I think it's such a cute take on Twitter. 

Prettygal01

Prettygal02

Also, even if anyone's not interested in art, it is evident that the Gillman Barracks are the perfect place to take photographs - it is insanely picturesque and the best part is that there is virtually no one around to watch and judge you. I can imagine them using this place for professional model photo shoots or even wedding shoots. Really, it's quite beautiful for a place in Singapore. 

Plus, they have random couches lying around the most random of places - reminds me a bit of RGS photo shoots where they place couches in the middle of the school field but this one's for real. 

Art work never fails to amaze me, honestly - I mean, how can anyone paint that well and how can anyone have enough patience to finish their art work? Crazy, crazy crazy. 

"Is this art?" - well well, that's the question. 

This was at the Pearl Lam gallery - and the layers are so incredible. Won't you look at that. And the colours are really so vibrant - even though I don't really /get/ the art piece, it's just really pleasing to the eye anyway. 

Blown away by the talent. 

Pain, blood, anguish - reflected in both the art piece and Sarah's face heh. 

Beautiful scenery and our friendship captured perfectly. 

And we headed to the Michael Janssen gallery again - this time to see "Spiderman" hang from the wall. Tried to recreate the famous kissing scene - not too an shabby attempt, eh?

And then Sarah got too excited over water and spilt everything on herself. 

Look at my quadruple chin! ;-) 

Shermaine and Sarah having fun at the FOST gallery! 

The weather was really hot that day and there weren't any places to eat there but thank goodness for vending machines - good ol' machines that provide salvation! 

Every block in the Gillman Barracks spots its own unique architecture so it's honestly a very amazing place to take photos - this one has a bit of country/ cottage feel because of the bricks! 

Just chillin', heh. 

And the last stop for the day - the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA)! :-) The exhibition going on there was called "Paradise Lost" and it's definitely one of my favourites. Plus, they even provide these extra comfy special beanbags that lift your heads up as you immerse yourself in the videos depicting an "imaginary Asia"

Sarah & Shermaine lounging. 

After half a day of art, we headed to ARC which is a shopping mall nearby to have lunch. To be honest, I've never heard of the shopping mall before but it's actually quite nice and rather cosy. We headed to ROOM coffee • bar! It was a quaint little place and it's a good place to chill out, honestly. 

A quote on the wall. 

Sarah's Aglio Olio that was spelt as "alio olio" on the menu, not sure why ($8).

Sherm's white chocolate latte with a really cute biscotti at the side! ($6.50)

My oven baked chicken and mushroom ($10) - I surprised myself by actually eating a few pieces of the salad! I normally stay away from veggies unless they're camouflaged in porridge. 

HAPPY ME WITH FOOD. 

We headed to the supermarket and I think this is really pretty for a supermarket shot because no one else will take a photograph while shopping in a place like that. 

After that, we hung out for a little while at McDonald's talking about pretty intense topics and also about JC life because at that point in time, we were all going to start a new chapter of our lives the next day. And I'm so glad to have their company for the last day of my freedom because I definitely spent it really well. Shermaine had to leave afterwards so Sarah and myself decided to head to nex at Serangoon to grab dinner! However we were both too full to eat proper food and I had some issues with my stomach all of a sudden so we went to Mad Jack to get some cake instead. 

Sarah's MAD and rich cake! 

My MAD chocolate lover cake - it's really hilarious how they call all of their food "MAD". 

That aside, I definitely had a wonderful day with the best company, best food and best place visited! The Gillman Barracks' a location not to be missed, honestly. It's so interesting by itself, not to mention the lovely art galleries hidden within it. 

Oh, and a little update on my life at the moment - JC's started and Orientation's been such a blast :') I hope I'll be able to do up a post on Orientation soon but it's been so enjoyable so far and it feels amazing being on the receiving end. Plus the house spirit here is amazing - I am quite mind blown.